Pantaloons



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM FRANKLIN, 0F NEV HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

PANTALOONS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 26,842, dated January 17, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FRANKLIN, of the city and county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Construction of Pantaloons, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l represents a view in perspective of the lining of a leg of a pair of pantaloons constructed according to my invention and detached from the pantaloons, Fig. 2 is a plan of one of the sheets of cloth of which the same is constructed, and Fig. 3 is an inside view of the lining extended liatwise.

Pantaloons are subjected to the formation of horizontal wrinkles at the lower extremities of the legs where the pantaloons fall upon the boots of the wearer; these wrinkles are unseemly to the eye, and attempts have been made by tailors to prevent their formation by lining the interior of the legs of the pantaloons with a sheet of strong linen or other flexible inelastic material. A lining of this description is defective as it preserves the form of the pantaloons for only a short period, hence an improved method of constructing the legs of pantaloons has long been a desideratum in the trade.

In order to prevent the formation of horizontal wrinkles I have combined the legs of pantaloons with ribs of an elastic material (such as whale bone), the ribs being arranged in such manner as to extend in upright directions, that is to say in directions which are lengthwise or thereabout with the pantaloon legs, or in other words, which are crosswise to horizontal wrinkles; and the objects of the invention which is the subject of this patent is to effect this combination in a manner that does not injure the appearance of the garment, and to render the stiffening imparted to pantaloon legs by ribs equable over the surfaces of the legs with which ribs are combined. The first part of the present invention is designed to accomplish the first mentioned obj ect and consists in combining upright elastic ribs with pantaloon-legs. by means of a lining or the equivalent thereof by means of which the ribs can be secured in their proper positions without requiring a direct attachment of their upper extremities to the cloth which with. The second part of the present invention is designed to accomplish the second obj ect above mentioned, and consists in combining elastic ribs and the legs of pantaloons with a sheet of elastic cloth in such manner that the direction in which the cloth isbelastic is crosswise to the direction of the r1 s.

The most eiicient mode of applying my invention to practice is to secure the ribs and elastic cloth to a separate lining, such as is shown at Figs'. l and 3, one of which is required for each leg of the pantaloons; each of these linings is formed of two sheets A, A, of some flexible material such for eX- ample as brown linen cut into the shape represented at Fig. 2. Ribs of a material of the character of whale bone, having a certain amount of flexibility and at the same time great elasticity, are placed upon each piece of the lining and over these is placed a sheet of hair cloth, of the same shape, applied in such manner that the direction in which the hair extends is crosswise to the length of the ribs (as shown by the red lines in Fig. 3). The lining, ribs, and hair cloth are then quilted together by sewing, and the two compound sheets so formed are securely connected by their curved edges by sewing or otherwise, so that the two form one lining which is then secured by sewing in the inside of the lowest part of the pantaloon leg.

I do not limit the invent-ion which I wish to secure in this patent to any particular number of ribs, nor to the particular directions in which they extend (as these may be varied as found expedient) so long as the general direction in which the ribs extend is lengthwise with the pantaloon legs or crosswise to horizontal wrinkles: Nor do I confine myself to the employment of the herein described shape and arrangement of the 1ining which constitutes the link between the ribs and the pantaloon legs, or to the particular material of which this link is described as being formed: Nor do I confine myself to the employment of both parts of my invention in the same pantaloons as the first part may be used without the second. Nor do I confine myself to whale bone as the material for the ribs7 as any suitable material having like characteristics of flexibil- I am also aware that in pantaloons with.

- cloth straps elastic ribs have been introduced in directions at right angles or thereabout with the length of the legs for the purpose of distending the straps where they joined the pantaloons and preventing vertical wrinkles; such an arrangement constitutes no part of my invention, Ido not therefore claim broadly the combination of elastic ribs with the legs of pantaloons, nor do I claim in this patent the combination of these two alone when arranged and located substantially as I have described; but

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The combination of upright elastic ribs with the legs of pantaloons by means of a lining or its equivalent by which the ribs are secured in place in contradistinction to attaching them directly to the material which forms the surface of the legs of the pantaloons.

' 2. I alsov claim the combination of hair cloth or its equivalent with elastic ribs and with the legs of pantaloons in such manner that the direction of the hair is crosswise to the lengths 4of the ribs. n

New Haven, Conn.` July 9th 1859.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed kmy name.

WM. FRANKLIN. 

